'R Xmas
Pathfinder Pictures | Release Date: November 8, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
5
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
A lean, well-contained slice-of-life at 83 minutes, 'R Xmas finds the director making a confident return to the hard-nosed realism on which he's staked his maverick reputation. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Few directors can put loneliness on screen as persuasively or capture the eerie quiet of people waiting for something, anything to happen. It's in moments such as these, when all sense of time disappears and all that remains are bodies in motion and Ken Kelsch's limpid cinematography, that you remember just how good Ferrara can be. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Introduces a new Ferrara -- sophisticated and restrained. It's a look that becomes him. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyDan Fienberg
R Xmas offers a poetic and profane ambiguity that's vintage Ferrara. The drug dealers are community leaders, the cops are corrupt, and the materialistic wife has unimagined emotional reserves. Read full review
60
VarietyDavid Rooney
Despite some hazy plot points, the tough, compelling drama comes together quite satisfyingly, standing alongside 1996's "The Funeral" as perhaps the most controlled and cohesive of Ferrara's uneven work of recent years. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Like any self-respecting Ferrara film, 'R Xmas has its intimations of hellfire, yet it's a weirdly benign Christmas fable -- something like "Miracle on 134th Street." Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Cinematographer Ken Kelsch, Ferrara's frequent collaborator, picks up the theme of overlapping lives by layering images within scenes -- the ongoing interplay of reflections and shadows is breathtaking -- and through slow, shimmering dissolves. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The title refers to the commercialization of just about everything in modern society, and Ferrara brings touches of his ornery filmmaking imagination to bear on the pessimistic parable. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Despite the intriguing potential, the end result is a queasy stalemate. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A seedy little movie with little in the way of theme, purpose, energy or wit, 'R Xmas is the latest slice-of-death drama from that earnest maestro of grub, Abel Ferrara. Read full review
10
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Once Ice-T sticks his mug in the window of the couple's BMW and begins haranguing the wife in bad stage dialogue, all credibility flies out the window. Read full review
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